The safety of drugs prescribed for ADHD have again been called into question. For depression the effectiveness of anti-depressants has been raised in a recent report reported in the Washington Post. Fortunately, under IDEA 2004, parents do not have to make a harsh choice between receiving services and having their child take medications that may not be effective (but frequently have side-effects) or in some cases can have serious risks. Among the beneficial changes to IDEA 2004 is that schools can not condition the provision of services on parents medicating their children.
The FDA panel report regarding ADHD medications failed to recommend
“black box warnings” but did strongly recommend that doctors discuss
the risks involved with taking this class of medications. School
personnel should also heed these recent findings. Notwithstanding, IDEA
2004 school personnel are still too quick to make uninformed judgments
that the answer to the child’s educational needs lies at the pharmacy.
The recent study revealed that for as many as half of all cases of
major depression, anti-depression medications are not effective. The
primacy of individual and group counseling and positive behavioral
planning to support students with depression are among the practical
ramifications of this report. If medications do not work, then more
intensive talk therapy should be provided, as well as improving the
planning process.